About Wheelchairs

Suddenly I find FOUR wheelchairs in my house - of different sizes , colours and make, of course. I keep shuffling them according to 'when' they are needed, and the living room sometimes resembles a parking lot! LOL! So as the story goes, Vin had his first wheelchair when he was about 5 years old. It looked like this

Vineet's First wheelchair (2004)

 

I had cried when it first rolled into our home..it tore my heart,but, of course. But for Vin, it was like a 4 wheeled car! He could not wheel it, but it was enough for him that he could be moved around everywhere. It was the Best option we had in the year 2004, because it was the only one which had the smallest rear wheels.We couldn't be bothered about the front wheels as such... We hardly knew anything about wheelchairs!! It was bought from a shop in Kolkata's Chittaranjan Avenue -its a very long road with Medical Equipment shops on both sides. My daughter Vinisha was just born, and must have been a few months old when I had gone with my husband to check out the wheelchairs there. We ordered this one for the seat dimensions,etc, and since we wanted a foldable one with built-in potty, they said it would take them some time for them to deliver. So Vin's papa went and got it some days later when it was ready. It was made totally of iron pipes, and as we realised later, the foldable part was hardly of any use - it got jammed because of the iron nuts and bolts :( Vin had already made it apparent by then that his favourite colour was 'green'. So I painted the wheelchair green(all by myself, of course, haha), coz the silver looked a bit sickly for a vibrant kid like my Vin :) So now it looked like this

 

Phew! It was hard work!!

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WHEELCHAIR NO.2    

 

 

 

 Errrrr...wheelchair no 2 was hardly ever used. It was totally miscalculated because we thought that with small wheels, Vin could not reach the wheels and wheel it himself, so let us get him one with big wheels with small dimensions.(By now, the shop was ready to make custom-made ones for us - It was a great thing for us back then...) So now we had big rear wheels, Vin's seat size, a little bit bigger front wheels, etc. Vin's dad had gone to order for this one, I made the dimensions myself, but when it came down home, it was a total failure :(  It was just TOO HIGH. We used it for school when Vin started school in April 2005,but when the third wheelchair came over in Feb 2006 , we kept it aside for emergencies as the first one was getting old now. We began our hunt for another decent one as Vin was now was going to start regular school. This wheelchair stayed with us for some time - sometimes people borrowed it for use(say broken legs, etc) , and in the end we donated it to someone needy. I have very few pictures of it. This is one of them

 

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WHEELCHAIR NO. 3   

 Aaaahhh!! What can I say about Wheelchair no 3...I just LOVE it...and so does Vin. One day I noticed an ad about wheelchairs in a small column of our newspaper. I don't remember if they mentioned anything special, because the next moment we had called them up and asked about their address in Kolkata. The person in -charge told us that his agency had acquired some imported wheelchairs from Germany(?) and we could have a look. He told us they cost around Rupees Seven Thousand - a very big amount for us those days...(the iron ones cost only Rupees One thousand eight hundred back then!!) but we still wanted to have a look.
So it was a sort of a warehouse in Kolkata's narrow lanes and the moment my husband saw it, he knew this was the one. But I was a little sceptical about the seat size- it was an adult size, but the gentleman was very very kind enough to call over his own son who was younger than Vineet, and showed us that even he could move it around. As we discussed, the gentleman and Vin's papa got an idea- the foldable wheels could be fixed with velcro straps and not opened fully.Then the adjustable rexine-leather seat and backrest could be folded inside. Of course that would make it a little bit higher, but otherwise, it was Super. The wheels just glided so smoothly and they had tyres you didn't need to pump air into- rubberised I think. Everything about it was just so fine. We were happy except the price part, but we had to invest in this one. It looks like this- we have not put the foot-rest because it was too low for Vin's feet and it was non-adjustable. We would have to find a way to put something there....

The pic date says 28th Feb 2006, at 7.11.a.m.
I think it came a day earlier and this was the first day of school when Vin went with it? But maybe not, as I see that the seat and backrest have been adjusted for Vin and the wheelchair is a little high. Oh! I don't seem to recollect...old age duh! So he was just finishing Kindergarten and about to go to Class I. About the footrest now, it had a clip-in system which was super, but not working for Vin as of now. So we got an iron-welder to fix  iron grooves on both sides like the one he had for his old ones, and put in one of the old footrest.We could put in only one of them because they were big and the breadth of this wheelchair was small.Both wouldn't fit together. It worked somehow...though I was always unsatisfied about this factor, but then we couldn't find any other way....Its the one we take for journeys and outings because because of its big front wheels,it easier to move about. Plus it just snaps shut with a raise of the finger!!:)

Touchwood, its still the BEST we have had till now..as if its blessed by GOD himself. Thankyou Jesus! Praise you Jesus! Its one of the many miracles we have witnessed in the path with Vineet...
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WHEELCHAIR NO  4     



 By now the first potty wheelchair was in bad shape and we needed another potty wheelchair for the house. So off we went to our favourite shop on Chittaranjan Avenue and ordered another one with our own dimensions for Vin. Oh what Super luck this time- it turned out just so fine and right in all ways.The arm-rests were lower as was the back rest.The arm rest was just about enough for a cardboard to be rested on it, so Vin could have meals by himself and even do some home work on it! Super!! :))

I see fotos of it as early as 30th April 2007. Although its potty is no more in use, Vin still finds it most comfortable for meals.
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WHEELCHAIR NO 5       



 Aahhh!!! What can I say about wheelchair no 5 ..... ITS AMERICAN!!!!! LOL!!! I'm laughing with pure joy because never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that Vin would be able to have one of those wheelchairs that looked SO damn Fabulous on the internet. Its a Quickie G T i and I had known about it from various places and SB Groups on the internet even before this one came. Now that I am writing about it, I feel it was a dream of sorts - the homecoming :)
Maria Linny is my messenger from God - she's been sent to help me and Vin in all our difficult times...I became friends with her on the net via the Spina bifida group that I have made on ORKUT. I shall have to have a seperate place for her here later I realise now. Coz Vin's journey is incomplete without me telling you about Linny (hugs for you Linny). So Linny was coming down to India in June 2009 and was bringing down her daughter Teena's extra wheelchair which was battery-operated. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard about it. She was coming down to Bangalore and we decided we would meet there. It was so un-imaginable that someone whom I had never met in my whole life was taking all the trouble to get a wheelchair with batteries and two sets of wheels, all the way from USA. Till the time we both met in Bangalore, both our husbands were so sceptical about the whole episode! haha! They kept phoning each other up to ensure it was actually happening!! But then miracles do happen....

It has jazzy light-up front wheels (which amaze people here all the time :), a pair of back-wheels for support and to avoid toppling , detachable armrests and everything about it so USA-made. He removes the armrests when he's practising his Octapad. I sometimes can't believe there ARE people who make a wheelchair so lovingly....So one set of wheels can be 'hand-pushed', while the other has batteries attached. So even at the slightest push, it can go faster than hands.Now Vin got a scare the first time when he sat on it in Bangalore with the battery-wheels,so he's still afraid to try them out, but the hand-driven ones are his favourite as of now.He can even play cricket on it!! :) Yes, we have to pump air sometimes. The footrest was high with the 'pressure-seat' Linny gave us, and low without it. So now we have our own-made cushion seat for him. I decorated it with white ribbons for Vineet's First Holy Communion in 2010. :)

            14th November 2010

WHEELCHAIR NO 6        





Now Vineet's second potty wheelchair (the comfortable home one) was getting old and rusty. So we had to get him a new one. Now inspite of me tediously taking measurements, Vin's papa tediously taking it down on the phone, and ordering it , it came with one disaster - high armrest. In fact too high an armrest. Now Vin does not want to let go of his 'comfy-wheelchair'.


SO THAT IS HOW THERE ARE 4 wheelchairs in my living room!!! Hahaha!! Not that I mind at all ;P Its good for the other kids of the house who sometimes like to race!!

(A small note-
And now I have my eyes on the 'beach' wheelchair wheels. Recently I was going through my old saved fotos and I came across fotos of beach wheelchairs. It looks like this-

Most of them were motorised and out of reach for us. I thought let me see if there have been any new improvements in them. I googled and saw some videos ,and then I came across this site-
CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK TO THE WEBSITE HOTSHOT PRODUCTS

This guy Hank is good coz he's given the option to just change the normal tyres of a normal wheelchair into balloon tyres with the help of some attachments at a price we can afford. I'm very very keen to proceed into this thing because our family loves the beach and so does Vin. In fact he's told me -Lets go to Goa again!! So I have told my dear friend Linny to look into it, and of course she too is working on it :) Love you Linny!
 

A minor urinary bladder surgery in April 2012

It is not that Vin does not have problems...but then who doesn't have problems in this world?? :) Vin's problems are just a little bit different. Earlier this year in the month of January, it started to get difficult for us to catheterise him, coz there was a false passage in his urethra since the Vellore visit in 2008. By the end of Jan, it became impossible for the catheter to go into the bladder. Sometimes his dad would miraculously put it in, but then those were rare occasions. So we decided to go in for a test, and as luck would have it, we found a good Urologist surgeon in our town itself. Or else we would have to go to Kolkata for a Urologist earlier..He did the test and said he wanted to work on it surgically. Now Vineet was going to have his Class Six Final term exams in March, so we postponed it for April first week.

               No sooner had we checked into the Nursing home on 9th April morning, and Vineet went into his terrified-self :P As soon as the nurse came with the needle to do a patch test on him, he started screaming and crying and he started pleading to go home and said that hence forth he would remember to drink his water in school(which he doesn't mostly). But what had to be done, had to be done...It was painful to see him like that...as always....Then at around 12 in the noon, he was wheeled into the Operation Theatre while I stood guard outside it. I saw that he was scared to see the anaesthetic's mask, but the Doctor was very gentle and made him believe that it was a similar one to the ones he wore at b'day parties......just before the door shut.

                 Seconds, minutes ticked by, and finally he came out after two and a half hours immediately looking out for me and his dad when he came to his senses. The Doctor explained to us that there was indeed a false passage,but it did not lead to another path. Rather there was a fleshy constriction within the urethra itself dividing it into two.So he had trimmed it as much as he could and so now the passage was clear. Besides he had also made the bladder's mouth a little bit bigger. So, he said, there should be no more of the urinary problems. We were so relieved :) He also gave us a CD of the entire process to watch later...We were very impressed, happy and thankful to this wonderful Doctor. And of course to God...

                 By evening, Vineet was in the recovery room and wanting to go back home. After much persuasion, he agreed to stay overnight after we promised him to take home the next day. So he was moved in to his cabin and I stayed with him for the night. The next day started the injections and by evening he was fed-up of the mobile games as well. He wanted to go home. At this point, his dad noticed that the urine outflow had stopped. So we called the Doctor and he flushed the foley-catheter that had been inserted and out came a piece of skin/flesh?  that had been blocking the catheter. So we decided to stay back for another night. In the morning we went home.

                  The Foley was to stay in for 15 days, so no school for 15 days
                      

           

VINEET'S FIRST TRIP TO THE HILLS AND MOUNTAINS 2012

Its been more than a year since I blogged about Vin. Its not that there has been nothing to post about, lets say it has been my idling away of time on Facebook! Hah! too bad, I know. Then yesterday Vin's dad got an email from another father who had a son with SB. Of course he was very happy to go thru Vin's blog, but then I realised I had not been updating(say helping others) about Vin since a long long time. So here I am :)

          So recently Vineet travelled to the hills and mountains during the last week of May.He went to Darjeeling, Kurseong, Gangtok, and North Sikkim right upto ''Zero Point" , at the foot of the Himalayas, where the road ends!!! He had a great time with all family members and friends,especially because his cousins were there with him too!

          EXCEPT for the day when he could not go up to the snow part of the mountain at Zero Point, because it was very far off from the road, and the way to it was thru a stream with lots of big stones(as is the case with all streams of course). So there he sat at the road's side on a rock with his dad for company while I went to the snow for my daughter with tears in my eyes. And when my daughter asked me why I was crying, I told her- All throughout this time, we had been planning when we'll see snow, we'll play and fight with snow balls, and make snowman with Vin.And here we are,and Vin can't play with us''. And tears came in my daughter's eyes too...she's a darling and loves her brother too much...

             We came back to Vin from the snow and said it was very tiring(atmospheric oxygen was very low at Zero point). And I cud see it in Vin's eyes that he was sad, but he wouldn't show it. Then it struck me and I said - ''What a waste of time!!we chose the wrong place to see snow! we cud have seen more of it in Shimla or Kashmir, where you get snow beside the road!! Sheesh!!! We'll go there next time, okay Vin? what say?'' Vin, who was silent all this while burst- ''That is what I was thinking, we have to go to those kind of places''. And I added, -''There's another best option you know, study well, go to Canada, and you'll find snow at ur doorsteps every morning, so much snow that you''ll get bugged of it!!!'' And there was laughter all around again.... :)

            So basically I have to end this topic saying that hills are very ''wheelchair-unfriendly'' , and they can't help it - Thats the way they have to move about - via steps, gulleys, alleys- all rugged. It was a first time for me too, and I'll say - Good Experience.

    AND I DOUBT IF VIN WILL BE ABLE TO GO THERE AGAIN.....

THE LINK TO THE TRIP FOTOS

Vineet's Goa-Mumbai Tour 2010-11

So Finally, today I have taken out time to update Vin's blog and share with you my views as well as the fotos of this wonderful trip (otherwise supposed to be perfect except that we ...cudn't,yet again, meet Hrithik inspite of having been to his doorsteps..literally..)
So let me start with Goa.Amazing place...Tourist Hotspot....n the moment we put our feet on the 'Madgaon' station (main station to halt at for Goa), we were greeted by a cobbled platform...broken at some places, and horror of all horrors!!NO WHEELCHAIR RAMP! So..so.. how do we get out of the station??!! "Not to worry m'am, says the coolie,'There's a road for the luggage trolleys, we go that way'.OK. If not for wheelchairs, in the name of luggage trolleys. Wait a minute, ARE WE GOING THROUGH THE RAILWAY TRACKS???!!! Yes m'am, not to worry.SO we wait on the railway tracks for our long train to pass through before making our way on that broken path(where a luggage trolley really overturned at the bend!) and I was disguted thinking that "WOW. AND THIS IS THE TOURIST HOTSPOT EARNING CRORES FROM THE TOURISM INDUSTRY AND THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE A RAMP!!' Oh my Asansol station, You Are The Best!
The second let-down was on Day 1 itself. We walked down to the nearest beach beside our guest-house in Miramar-The Miramar Beach late in the evening. Right at the entrance was a small flight of stairs.OK, we can deal with that.BUT THE WHEELCHAIR won't budge an inch in the sand!!! What do we do now?? 'OK, let me go and see how far the sea-shore is from the beach', says Vin's papa, leaving us n Vin at the entrance.He comes back after a few minutes shaking his head- 'Its too too far to take Vin in my arms..' Silence...if Vin can't go to the sea-shore, neither will I...But of course, we forgot that Vin might get the disappoinment in our words.So we decide to take Vin as far as we could,n we cud sit there n enjoy the beach.And we cud also keep an eye on the wheelchair at the entrance . So we found a nice spot under the tall light and Vin his sister played with the sand.We got ourselves some snacks and drinks. It was a lovely evening and we were really enjoying our family time,when Vin's pa coaxed me to go upto the water with Vinisha. I went.more out of curiosity how far it was than to enjoy it.However when I finally reached the far end(IT WAS THE WIDEST BEACH IN GOA, we realised later), I couldn't stop my tears from coming and I silently vowed that if this was going to happen in all the beaches in Goa,I was NOT going to the water. When I returned to Vin n his pa, My dear Husband realised everything, and he said he would carry Vin upto the water and I suggested maybe he cud stop when he got tired. So off went Vin in his father's arms and Vinisha scampered behind and I watched them go...a little less heavier heart...
The next few days in Goa were happy and fun-filled except wherever Vineet had to be carried around(which is a little exhausting for his papa,I have to admit). So we couldn't climb up to the upper boundary of the lighthouse jail or to the or temples with lots of stairs and no ramps.... And of course.. there were The Beaches, but less wider than Miramar Beach.
AND THE BEST BEACH WAS BAGAH BEACH "COZ IT HAD WATER NEAREST TO THE BEACH. Oh yes! I have to mention our pleasant surprise in Goa on the last day.We planned to board our train this time not from Madgaon station, but Karmali Station, which was nearer to where we were staying.And surprise of all surprises- KARMALI STATION IN GOA had a RAMP!! :))))

mumbai

Well, frankly speaking, I was a bit disappointed with what Mumbai looked liked.I thought and I still do, that our Kolkata is much neater and good-looking, contrary to what people say and think. While the dinner parties at the ITC and Taj were a stuff of what dreams are made of, I was SO SO disappointed the day we went sightseeing to Juhu and Bandra and saw some of the filmstars homes, but our driver could not locate Hrithik's place. Whatever....

The link to the fotos and the stories behind them - http://www.flickr.com/photos/57634602@N00/sets/72157625778042871/

VINEET'S FIRST HOLY COMMUNION

On 14th November 2010, Vineet recieved his First Holy Communion, a Christian tradition, wherein a young boy or girl recieves the Holy Communion for the very First time. Its a religious ceremony and of great importance to any Catholic. So there was the early morning mass which was a beautiful one, and then there was a lunch party at St. Vincent's Schhol Auditorium. Almost everyone invited turned up to celebrate Vin's big day.It was a fine day and after lunch, Vineet and his friends set the dance floor on fire. We elders too followed suit and enjoyed a lot.   You can view some more fotos in this link- http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=93796&id=1375597855&l=e3fde84d16

                                                                         











You can also watch the video of him dancing - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eCKIzr5U8M

Post for 24th May 2010

Oh God, I shall remember this day too.. in my life.How much we hurried towards 'City Centre',Kolkata early morning this day. We were sure(as were our people back home) that today would FINALLY be 'THE DAY' when our beloved Vineet wud meet his superstar - Hrithik. And this sight will remain etched in my mind forever- Hrithik's white car moving out of City Centre early morning at around 11.15 a.m. as our car rolled into the mall. My disappointment could be easily made, but Vin,oh what can I say about this boy of mine- nothing on the face, but when I asked him privately about what he thought about that day, he said quietly- "I was very BADLY disappointed''. So you never showed? "No". He's such a sensitive fellow...

So there we were, watching the movie ''Kites'' at the very same INOX theatre where Hrithik had been a few hours earlier.Me for the second time, 'coz I had watched it the previous night with my friends. And altho' most people have not liked the movie so much, including my friends, I sort of liked it, if not loved it!!hehe! Some of my friends can't believe that I sat thru' it a second time!!lolz!

Vineet trying to learn swimming

All these years when we took Vin to the pool, he would simply float in his 'float'.If at all his papa tried to put him in water without the float, he would be very very scared. But this year he put on a lot of weight, and I thought its going to be very difficult to move him around. To add to this was the fact that his height was also not increasing. So I had made up my mind that this year it would be 'water-therapy' in the pool n not fooling around.I saw a few videos of 'hydrotherapy' on youtube n showed it to my husband.And when it was warm enough to go to the pool, Vin was taken in the water without his float.Just a pair of arm floats helped to drift him along and maintain the balance.Much to our surprise, Vin showed an inclination not to be scared of the water, n loved it when his papa taught him to use his hands for swimming!

There is also a video which you can view on youtube.The link is- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s03msXx43To